Is Grandparenting Good for Our Brains?

Grandparents and grandson enjoying time together in park

Source: Zoran Zeremski/ Adobe Stock

We recently celebrated Grandparents’ Day—a special occasion that honors the invaluable role grandparents play in our lives. As a parent, I often reflect on how fortunate my two children are to have two loving sets of grandparents with whom they share deep, unique bonds. While it’s well-known that these relationships provide socioemotional benefits for both grandchildren and grandparents, what may come as a surprise is that being an active grandparent also seems to offer cognitive health benefits.

Caputo and colleagues (2023) analyzed data from over 11,000 adults gathered between 1998 and 2016 in the U.S. Health and Retirement Study. They found that grandparents who spent a moderate amount of time—between 100 and 499 hours a year, or about two to five hours a week—caring for grandchildren maintained stronger cognitive abilities over time compared to non-caregivers. These effects were stronger for older adults who were more vulnerable, such as those with lower income, increased age and more functional limitations.

Using the same dataset, Choi et al. (2024) showed that grandparenting was associated with a reduced risk of developing dementia. Interestingly, they found that this protective effect varied by gender and caregiving intensity. Specifically, for females, light caregiving was related to reduced dementia risk whereas for males, more intense caregiving provided greater cognitive benefits.

While these findings reveal the complexities of the link between grandparenting and cognitive health, they ultimately lead to the same conclusion: grandparenting is beneficial for our brains.

Why Might Grandparenting Support Cognitive Health?

The positive effect of grandparenting on cognitive health is likely due to a number of factors rather than a single cause.

It is now well-established that social connections play a crucial role in cognitive health as we age (Samtani et al., 2022). Grandparents who share strong bonds with their grandchildren are more likely to feel more socially connected, and a strong sense of connection is linked to better cognitive health. Interacting with grandchildren also exercises core social-cognitive skills such as empathy and perspective-taking, which may help stave off age-related cognitive decline.

Grandparenting also often requires engaging in novel mental tasks. Whether it’s building complex structures with magnetic tiles or figuring out how to put a new train set together, engaging with young children requires mental flexibility and problem-solving. According to the “use it or lose it” theory of cognitive aging (Hultsch et al., 1999), such intellectually stimulating activities are vital in protecting against cognitive decline.

Physical activity is another key benefit of grandparenting. Activities like pushing a stroller to the park, carrying a toddler, or playing sports with older children demand more physical exertion than typical daily routines. A recent study found that grandparents were more physically active and less sedentary on days they cared for grandchildren (Vanhove et al., 2024). Physical activity is well-established as protective against cognitive decline, with numerous studies providing evidence that it has positive effects on brain health (Blondell et al., 2014).

Are you making the most of your role as a grandparent?

The role of a grandparent extends beyond providing love and support to younger generations—it may also serve as a pathway to healthier aging for grandparents themselves. From building deeper social connections to staying mentally and physically active, grandparenting offers a unique blend of engagement that promotes cognitive resilience.

If you are lucky enough to have grandchildren, you have the perfect opportunity to engage in activities that will not only increase your emotional and physical wellbeing, but will also help to protect against cognitive decline. Next time you are with your grandchildren, why not challenge yourself and engage in a new activity? Both your grandchildren and brain will thank you for it!